Diamond Reflections: The history of baseball in Washington

historicalstockphotos.comBaseball in Washington extends back to the days of Walter Johnson and President Calvin Calvin Coolidge.

One of the segments on ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters” on Sunday was about the topsy-turvy NL East. One of the panelists, we won’t say which one, talked about how the Washington franchise has been around for “80 years and has only made the postseason twice.”

A history lesson is in order.

Washington, D.C., has had Major League Baseball off and on since 1884, but it hasn’t been the same franchise.

Prior to what we know as the Modern Era of baseball, which began with the formation of the American League in 1901, the Washington Nationals were members of the Union Association in 1884. That league folded after the ’84 season, and Washington was without a team until the Statesmen joined the American Association in 1891.The following year, the team was renamed the Senators and joined the National League, where they remained until 1899 when they were dropped from the league.

The Senators began play as one of the eight original members in the newly formed American League in 1901 and represented the city for 60 years, winning AL pennants in 1924, 1925 and 1933, and captured the World Series in ’24. Most of the time, however, despite the presence of the greatest pitcher in baseball history, Walter Johnson, the Senators finished up the track, inspiring the great line from Charley Dryden, the sports editor of the San Francisco Chronicle — “first in war, first in peace, last in the American League.”

(The original Senators were renamed the Nationals in 1905 and kept that as their official nickname until after the 1955 season, but fans of the team never recognized the new moniker.)

After the 1960 season, owner Calvin Griffith, citing poor attendance and general lack of interest in the team, moved the franchise to Minneapolis, but in order to appeal to the entire state of Minnesota, the newly dubbed Twins became the first major-league team to adopt the name of a state rather than that of a city.

The nation’s capital, however, wasn’t without baseball for long. Pressure from politicians in Washington as well as the threat of a new third major league — the Continental League — forced AL owners to expand, and a new Senators team became part of the expansion, along with the Los Angeles Angels, as the AL went from eight teams to 10.

The reincarnated Senators fared even worse than their predecessors, posting only one winning year in 11 seasons, and never managed to finish in the first division. Bob Short, who bought the team in 1968, sought permission to move the franchise, and after much deliberation and consternation, the AL approved the Senators’ relocation to Texas in 1972, when they were renamed the Rangers.

Washington was without baseball for the next 30-plus years, until Montreal was railroaded by Major League Baseball. The Expos reached the postseason only once — in 1981 — but for most of their history were a team that was always in the hunt yet came up short. After the strike of 1994, the Expos, once a thriving franchise, fell apart, both on the field and financially.

After the option of contraction was thwarted — ironically, Minnesota was to be Montreal’s partner in the plan — Major League Baseball, in a sequence of subterfuge that would have made the CIA proud, granted permission for Expos owner Jeffrey Loria to “sell” the Expos to the game’s other 29 owners and purchase the Florida Marlins. MLB operated the Expos until new buyers were found, and the franchise was moved to Washington in 2005 and became the Nationals.

A “GRAND” DAY: On Sunday, Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton and Cincinnati’s Joey Votto ended games with a walk-off, grand-slam. That was the first time there were two walk-off grand slams on the same day since April 10, 1998, when Steve Finley of the Padres and Mo Vaughn of the Red Sox ended games with bases-loaded homers.

MISCELLANEOUS MUSINGS: Classy move by the St. Louis Cardinals to retire manager Tony La Russa’s No. 10 very early in his first season of retirement. That would seem to be a no-brainer. However, in contrast, it took the Detroit Tigers from 1995 until last summer to retire Sparky Anderson’s No. 11. Sparky, though, wasn’t around to see it, as he passed away the previous November. ... Oakland’s Brandon Inge became the first player since Lou Gehrig in 1931 to have four or more RBIs four times in a five-game stretch. ... Mets ace Johan Santana is averaging 9.87 strikeouts per nine innings, his best strikeout rate since whiffing 10.46 per nine in his first Cy Young Award season in 2004. ... Albert Pujols entered play last night batting .197/.230/.275 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) and had grounded out to either shortstop or third base in 29.6 percent (42-for-142) of his at-bats.
Contact Rick Freeman at rfreeman@njtimes.com.